Yasmani Grandal Signs With Brewers, Dodgers Still Doing Nothing

I’m sure you’ve heard the breaking news by now. Free agent and former Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. According to reports the deal is for one-year and 18.25 million dollars. Grandal had turned down a multi-year offer from the New York Mets, and of course had declined a 17.9 million dollar offer from the Dodgers earlier in the winter in order to test the free agent market.

Perhaps Grandal’s market never developed but it’s kind of frustrating to see him sign with the Brewers for less than a million dollars more than the qualifying offer from the Dodgers. I know many of you disliked Grandal for his defensive issues behind the plate. However you can’t deny that he is the most powerful catcher in baseball who can also draw a lot of walks. He’s also been one of the best pitch-framers as well. It appears the Dodgers never had any interest in retaining him. I’m thinking his October meltdown this year may have soured them on him a bit. That might be a bit unfair but I can somewhat understand. It still makes me wonder why Friedman couldn’t have offered him a contract. They couldn’t have given him a 20 million dollar one-year deal?

Now that Grandal is gone, we can ask the question….What the hell do the Dodgers do now? Once again as predicted by me early on in the offseason, Andrew Friedman, small market and cheapskate expert has decided to not add any players this winter. The Dodgers have multiple holes on the roster that Friedman refuses to plug. The Dodgers still need a catcher, second baseman and right fielder.

Catcher will be the hardest position to fill. With little options left on the open market and Friedman being too cheap, and small market minded to trade for anyone good, we’re left with Austin Barnes as the starting catcher. Indeed I was correct, Austin Barnes will be the Dodgers starting catcher in 2019. Of course he’ll need someone to pair with his sub-Mendoza line batting skills. Perhaps the Dodgers will be ready to promote top prospect Keibert Ruiz to the major league level. Will Smith another young catching prospect is another possibility as well.

Either way rest assured that if the Dodgers do somehow acquire a catcher from outside the organization it will be a backstop who won’t hit above .190. If Ruiz is paired with Barnes then it’s doubtful Ruiz would get the brunt of the playing time. He’ll be platooned with Barnes, and whoever is the worst hitter will get the most playing time. My guess is that Barnes will bat around .215 most of the season and get a lot of playing time. Ruiz will impress in his major league debut and hit well, but will be stuck in a platoon with a catcher who can’t hit.

Or the Dodgers will acquire a past their prime aging veteran who won’t hit above the Mendoza line either. Maybe they sign a Nick Hundley type. Again as I mentioned earlier, anyone acquired from outside can’t hit above .215 at any time during the season. Hundley or Barnes will likely bat cleanup or lead-off multiple times throughout the season as well.

Of course I jest. This article was completely written tongue in cheek. But it’s hard to figure out where the Dodgers are going to go from here after losing Grandal and giving away two other solid regular position players. The Dodgers need a catcher and quickly.

The Brewers loss, our gain. Grandmal is not the answer. You might be surprised at what Barnes is capable of doing when he actually gets to hit each day. All the Dodger “platoon” players’ stats are significantly skewed do to being bounced in and out of the lineup on a daily basis. Scrap the shitty platoon mentality and really find out what kind of players you have. Until that happens we will continue to have messed up stats and messed up players. God I wish Friedman would go help another franchise.

LOL…. I bet Grandal is kicking himself in the A** for turning down the Mets’ offer. I cannot believe he was dumb enough to think he could get more. He is lucky He got what he got from the Brewers. A humbling experience, for sure.

I’m for just bringing up Ruiz as backup, and start Barnes. If Barnes totally flops, then Ruiz should be given the chance at #1 catcher. Not too thrilled about a band-aid washed up veteran for one year, unless it is AJ Ellis. Ellis could be a terrific mentor to Barnes and Ruiz. Also a future as Minor League Catching Coach or Bullpen Coach.

The Dodgers act like they have a flawless team. They have traded a quality right fielder and solid playoff performer two years running in Puig. They have jack crap at catcher unless they believe their wet behind the ears catchers in the system are ready. They have no second baseman. Unlike last year where they sat back and didn’t really have many holes to fill, this year that isn’t the case.

Also, the ownership group pulled off their heist. Spent big early, got their TV deal, now pulling back the spending reigns and acting like the second coming of Frank McCourt. The kicker is they spent lavishly to bring in the likes of Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett years ago, now when FA bargains can be had, they sit on their hands.

Great rant, Scott. The holes Friedman had on this team when he took over still remain today.
I was looking at the current roster, trying to get a rotation, batting lineup and depth chart out of it and gave up. I said multiple times, out loud, “man this team is weak.” I could only truly assign two positions, SS and 3B. The rest is up in the air. If they don’t do anything to get a real 2B and C, they are going to be in trouble. They could also use a another high end reliever, but that is definitely not going to happen.

Now if they go into spring training without plugging the holes, I can say with confidence “this year’s team looks like a standard Tampa Bay Rays team with a little bit better pitching.”

About a month ago, I mentioned that I wouldn’t mind them acquiring AJ for some catching, of course that would make too much sense, so DENIED.

What is sad is the Dodgers act as if going to the WS two years in a row is a great accomplishment and now are moving on it appears. It as if they are saying, “we took our shot, didn’t quite make it, time to unload and not spend to make another run at it.”

Unlike the Dodgers, the Rams put their money where their mouth is. They spent, and built a winner. And that is with only 8-9 Home games. Dodgers have 81 home games to rape the fans, yet they just stuff their profits in their pockets… fat, dumb, and happy, while their team disintegrates, and the Fans still faithfully show up every season..

Go Rams! At least I can still use my “Handle” proudly. I am a Bluefan4Life!

Bluefan, Yeah I have the Rams decease too, born and bred a Rams fan. In the 60s my family was very close friends with the Roman Gabriel family, his eldest son, Robin and I were best friends as little kids. My dad was even one of the chaplains for the Rams in the 60s, 70s and 80s, I had the privilege of attending many pre-game meals with the Rams players and coaches. So I got the horn affliction bad. GO RAMS!

The Dodgers, yeah pretty weak effort in my opinion was really trying to build much but the bank account. Current ownership came in made a big splash initially and have since continued to take things apart piece by piece. The Friedman experiment is a disaster as far as I’m concerned. The influence of Stan Kasten seems to reminiscent of the “let’s almost accomplish something great” Atlanta Braves. I love the Dodgers but the same old BS methods of talking a lot and actually not pulling the trigger regarding all the talk is getting very dated and all to predictable.

This offseason is finally winding down and still no pickups of any value or at least none that will help right now. As it does you will see a few more of the star players find homes and then the rest of Dodger Nation will see that nothing is left except over the hill players and kids. Let me just say if using many kids was the answer all of the teams would be doing it. I shudder to think of the lineup as it stands right now. Just another year of the Friedman regime. I do not think he is leaving but it is a nice thing to think about as it is the last year of his contract. You would think most fans would raise hell but for some reason they like to spend all their money and never get a winner.

Q – If you’re Andrew Friedman and offer Harper a short term/high value deal which he rejects, what’s your next move to improve the team?
Keith Law – Offer him a longer deal.

Q – Who would you rather trade…Verdugo or Ruiz/Smith
Keith Law – Verdugo. I think he’s good but easier to replace than Ruiz.

Q – Any chance Caleb Ferguson gets another shot to start? And are you out on Urias?
Keith Law – I’m not out on any Uriases that I can think of. If you mean Julio, we are in uncharted waters for someone with that injury.

Q – Aside from Ruiz and Verdugo, have the Dodgers drained most of their elite talent from the farm?
Keith Law – No.